south. Immediately to the west of the temple was the _Pandroseum_, a precinct sacred to Pandrosus, one of the daughters of Cecrops, who obeyed the injunction of Athena when her two sisters gratified their curiosity by opening the box entrusted to them, the result being that they went mad when they saw disclosed the serpent-like Erichthonius whom Athena had taken under her charge. Somewhere in this neighbourhood was the Cecropium, probably a shrine over the tomb of Cecrops, and [Illustration: THE NORTHERN PORTICO OF THE ERECHTHEUM Four out of the six pillars of the portico appear in this drawing, which includes not only the great doorway so famous for its beauty and for the interesting problems it has given rise to, but also the small doorway leading to the Pandroseion. The rough masonry behind the two right-hand columns is the great wall below the site of the archaic temple of Athena Polias. To the right of the drawing we have the east portico and part of the north wing of the Propylæa.] here also may have been the den of the serpent which appears coiled beside Athena’s shield. Within the Pandroseum there grew the sacred olive-tree, of which we are told by Herodotus that, having been burnt down when the Persians devastated the Acropolis, it put forth a fresh shoot of a cubit’s length within two days--a presage of the speedy recovery of Athens from her crushing adversity. Under the olive-tree was the altar of Zeus _Herkëus_, which was, perhaps, originally included in the court of the palace of Erechtheus. At no great distance may also be seen the rocky elevation (a few feet in height) which is supposed to have been the primitive altar on which sacrifices were first offered to Athena. Like the Parthenon, the Erechtheum has passed through strange vicissitudes, having been at one time used as a Christian church and at another time as the residence for the wives of a Turkish governor of Athens--considerable alterations being made upon it in both cases.